While You Were Sleeping: Top 10 Underground Hip-Hop Albums From April 2013 (Part 1)

Here we are in the third week of April, the weather has finally warmed up and so has the underground Hip-Hop album release schedule. We’re approaching the stretch where highly anticipated Rap albums are beginning to be churned out at an alarming rate and with that high frequency of work dropping, some are bound to get lost in the sauce.

Over the past couple of weeks there were several quality indie projects let loose and we narrowed it down to 10 albums, thus far in April, that Hip-Hop Wired readers should be aware of. We have new releases from the likes of Ghostface Killah, Styles P, N.O.R.E., Slaine and more like Kev Brown, PMD and Trek Life that recently hit the Internet, digital music marketplaces and store shelves that deserve mention and recognition.

West Coast underground veteran MC Trek Life (Price I’ve Paid, Rhymes Within Reason EP & Everything Changed Nothing) teamed up with producer Duke Westlake (Turn) to create the album Hometown Foreigner. After collaborating with J.Bizness and Oddisee on previous projects, Trek decided to once again have one man compose the sonic landscape he rhymed over. It was released digitally via iTunes & Bandcamp on the 2nd and dropped the next Tuesday in physical form and on every digital music market. This fantastic project boasts features from Hezekiah, Oddisee, Bishop Lamont, yU, Hawdwerk, Richard Wright and more. If you’re looking for introspective bars that touch on a number of relevant topics over ridiculous production then cop Hometown Foreigner from Amazon, iTunes, UGHH, Fat Beats or stream it first then purchase it from the Mello Music Group Bandcamp or DJ Booth.net.

Ammbush – Ammbaataa 4.5.2013 (SWTBRDS/Bandcamp)

Ammbush is an MC/producer from the Bay Area and part off the SWTBRDS collective’s Drums & Ammo production team. A few weeks ago Ammbush lived up to his moniker and surprised us all with a dope full length Rap album featuring production from himself, REL, Al Jieh, CoffeeHouse Multimedia, YS Beats and Selector Jawbreaker. You can stream & download Ammbaataa from the SWTBRDS Bandcamp right now.

EPMD’s PMD made a collaborative LP with MC Sean Strange and international Hip-Hop production team Snowgoons following making a few tracks featuring Sean Strange back in 2010 and being more than satisfied with the finished result. PMD, Sean Strange and Snowgoons have toured all over the world together over the past couple of years and the product of all that touring and recording is this album. Welcome To The Goondox features additional production from Solid Scheme’s Charlie Marotta and guest appearances from Smoothe The Hustler, Swifty McVay (D12), Esoteric (7L & Esoteric), Jus Allah (Jedi Mind Tricks), Jaysaun (Special Teamz), Virtuoso, Chief Kamachi (Army Of The Pharaohs) & Reef The Lost Cauze. Welcome To The Goondox is available to purchase via iTunes, Amazon & UGHH.